But still doesn't offer as much clearance as the steering box had.

Yeah, those bevel boxes are hard to get high enough to disappear completely.

Wow, a whole year has passed since since getting on the road, and yesterday the MOT was passed with absolutely nothing of concern

I have recently changed the exhaust for another Vintage Speed one, but one that will give me less grief over speed bumps!! I also changed the front tyre size, and improvement has been vast, gone are the 185/55x15, to be replaced with 165/55x15. The steering is even better than before, as is cornering.

I'll pop some pictures when I get chance

Hopefully see you at Vanfest...won't be doing S&S this year though.

What load rating are the tyres, only asking cos I originaly was gonna put 4.5" wheel on the front but couldn't find 165s with a high enough load rating.

The tyres have a 75 load rating, thats 387kg.

The load rating debate will go on forever, all I will say is that I am happy with my choice

Hi, do you mind explaining what was not so good about the 185/55 as I was thinking of going that route as there are some XL versions available in that size. I'm assuming they are what is shown in all the previous pictures, they look pretty small for 185 on a 5.5 rim.

Regards
Richard

All pictures are of the 185/55x15 on 5.5 wide rims.

I always found that roundabouts and tight cornering wasn't very good, a little skittish and not at all sure footed, I thought it was just a charcteristic of a low(ish)split. The rack improved things no end, but the difference with 165 wide tyre is phenominal, I doubt I'll go back to 185 wide.

Does that help?

Thanks, helpful, yes....its not what I would have guessed a wider tyre would feel like over a narrower one. I guess it could be partly down to the brands of tyre. I do appreciate your feedback.

Cheers
Richard

Well the 185's were Faulken ZE512's, the 165's are Bridgestone Potenza!

I have also remembered that I altered the setting on a Spax adjustables, from the thier softest setting, to +3 clicks.that that this should affect things that much.

Picture was taken a little over 2 hours ago


The van is running beautifully at the moment, never missed a beat (or a wheel!) to and from Vanfest, but the list of things I want to do to finish it off isn't getting any shorter, and being the daily means being off the road for any length of time would become a nightmare. To that end I've bought a bug, a '70 1300 to be precise, in British Racing Green!!! Still has the OG Elm Green inside though. It's been stood for 10 years but is in pretty good nick, a couple of days welding should see it solid. Then all new brakes going in and the engine going through should see it on the road pretty cheaply.

Then I can sort the van out, the main jobs include,
Beam narrowing by 2", then I'll add 2 x 1" spacers to bring the track back to normal, but I gain clearance between the tyres and trailing arms that I lost with the steering rack conversion.
All steering rack components out for paint/powder coat
Bay tank conversion,
Gearbox out for paint and a nosecone rebush,
While the engines out a few bits of fresh tinware going on plus sort out the hoses for the breather, the bugpack ones lasted about 4 months before falling apart
I'll get those adjustable springplated fitted too, I've only had them a year
A bit of chassis repainting too

And that's just underneath, loads to do inside.

Hi,how`s the red oxide holding up,did you do anything to it.just bought a split slider panel,thinking of going down the same paint route.perhaps even JET ROCKET 2,,,

For the most part the red oxide has faired very very well, there are areas that are showing a little rust, but this down to me not putting enough on!! I have another 24 tins for a respray though

It was applied directly onto bear metal, except for the roof which was only sanded down to the OG primer. Although touch dry in a few minutes, it doesn't really reach full hardness for about a week.

Whereabouts on the LIncs coast are you?

Hi,bus arrives Saturday,,,to sunny MABLETHORPE

Getting leathered...








...that's what my steering wheel has been doing ...








...my splits steering wheel has started to grain in the damp weather, so I've had a leather cover made for it, I've just spent 2 hours fitting it, well pleased with the results

Good work on the steering wheel, it's looks really tidy!